


Sardines

by Sir_Bedevere



Category: Ghosts (TV 2019)
Genre: Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:02:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28653192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sir_Bedevere/pseuds/Sir_Bedevere
Summary: “Alright, Kitty,” Pat said. “Do you want to hide, and we can come to find you?”“Oh,” Kitty said. “I’m not sure if I want it to be me. Do you all promise you will come and find me? I won’t be hiding all on my own and you’ll just do something else?”Alison introduces Kitty and the others to a new game. It isn't a game Kitty thinks she would have enjoyed playing with her sister.
Comments: 18
Kudos: 96





	Sardines

“Kitty, have you ever heard of sardines?”

“Oh yes. We used to have them for breakfast.”

Alison laughed. Kitty loved it when she laughed, even when she wasn’t sure what the joke was. Still, Alison would tell her soon enough. She never made Kitty guess. 

“I meant the game of sardines,” Alison said. “Should have made that clearer.”

They were in the kitchen on a Tuesday afternoon, and Kitty had come to find Alison as she was sure to be making her afternoon cup of coffee. Michael was up in the attics, plugging a leak in the roof, and the other ghosts were all scattered about. It had been a very quiet day. 

“What is the game?” Kitty asked. “Is it like Twister?”

They’d all been enjoying that since Christmas, once the Captain and Thomas had apologised to Pat for ruining the game. Pat forgave them, of course, and everyone enjoyed playing it, although Julian wasn’t allowed to join in after Lady Button almost fainted the first time he bent over. He had to do the spinning disc, if he wanted to play, which he complained about terribly. Kitty secretly hoped that Pat would ask Alison for some more games they could all play together. He always had the most wonderful ideas. 

“It isn’t like Twister. It’s kind of like hide and seek, but backwards.”

“Oh! I love hide and seek!”

“I know,” Alison said, sipping her coffee. “I haven’t played it in a long time. One person hides and then everyone looks for them. Then when you find them, you hide with them. So by the end, everyone is packed into the hiding place like sardines in a tin. It’s the most fun if you can get a lot of people to play it.”

“Oh, it sounds wonderful!” Kitty said. She was already thinking of all the places big enough to hide in. Usually only Mary and Robin would play hide and seek, or sometimes Thomas if he felt like it. It would be fun to try and hide three people in the bathtub, but it would be even more fun if she could get the others to join in as well. Pat would, if she asked him. And it couldn’t hurt to see the Captain and Julian and Lady Button would too. 

Alison looked pleased that Kitty was happy, and Kitty just wished that she could touch her; hold her arm or embrace her. It was nice to hold Mary’s hand when they were playing together, and sometimes Thomas or Pat would put their arms around her. It was lovely, and Kitty was so grateful that anyone at all could touch her, and she could touch them. But Alison was her very best friend, and it would be wonderful to be able to show her that sometimes. Still, it didn’t do to be sad about it. Things could have been much worse. They _had_ been. Before and after she died. 

“Pretend I just gave you a hug,” Kitty said instead, and smiled. “I’m going to get the others to play with me. Do you want to come?”

“I’m going to check Mike hasn’t fallen on his head and then I’ll come to find you.”

They walked upstairs together, then Kitty broke off to go to the common room. It was empty except for Thomas, who was in his usual place at the window. He wasn’t really sighing that much these days. Ever since Christmas he seemed much happier. 

“Where is everyone?” she asked. “Alison has told me about the most wonderful new game.”

He looked up at her, his eyes far away, and shrugged. 

“Patrick and the Captain went for a walk not long ago. Robin and Julian are playing chess. I haven’t seen the others.”

“Alright. Stay here please. If anyone else comes in, make them stay too.”

He nodded, but she wasn’t really sure if he heard her. It was hard for him, being an artist and not able to keep it all on paper. She’d always thought it must be quite busy in his mind. No wonder he liked the quiet so much when he could get it. 

Still, he couldn’t be quiet _all_ day. 

Not when there were games to play. 

*

When she wanted to, Kitty was very good at making people do what she wanted. 

Firstly, she went to find Mary and asked her to collect Robin, knowing Robin would do what Mary said, and hoping Julian might do what Robin said in turn. Lady Button and Humphrey were talking together in the library, and when Humphrey said he’d love to play, Lady Button surprised them both by agreeing to join in. 

“Just to see what all the fuss is about, mind you,” she said, picking Humphrey up and going down to the common room. Humphrey winked at Kitty. He enjoyed the games as much as she did. 

Thomas had in fact remembered to ask Pat and the Captain to stay once they came in from their walk, and everyone was milling about when Kitty followed Lady Button into the common room. 

“What’s this about, Katherine?” the Captain asked. “You’ve got us all here.”

“Alison told me about a game called sardines, but it needs lots of people to play it,” Kitty said, looking around at everyone. “I thought it might be fun to try. It’s like hide and seek, but backwards.”

“Had a bit of fun playing that at uni, I can tell you,” Julian said, in that voice which always made the Captain and Lady Button look at him disapprovingly. Kitty only ever understood about half the things that he said, but she knew that he’d not been terribly well behaved when he was alive. She didn’t want to think about what he meant by ‘a bit of fun’. 

“It’s a great game, that,” Pat said, and gave her an encouraging smile. “A real team builder.”

“One of us hides and everyone else comes to find them,” Kitty said. “And when you find the person, you have to get into the hiding place with them. By the end, everyone is all squeezed in together. Like sardines.”

“It sounds preposterous,” Lady Button grumbled, eying Julian and then Robin with distaste. “How on earth will we all fit in a wardrobe – or – or a cupboard?”

“That’s the point of it, Fanny,” Julian said, straightening his tie. “Bit of saucy fun.”

Lady Button looked ready to argue, but Alison came in then. She still had her coffee cup in her hand. 

“Everyone up for a game, then?” Alison asked. “Captain? Fanny?”

“Just one,” Lady Button said, as the Captain cleared his throat and said, “Well, if the consensus is yes, I can’t argue. One game won’t hurt.”

“Alright, Kitty,” Pat said. “Do you want to hide, and we can come to find you?”

“Oh,” Kitty said. She hadn’t thought that far ahead. Everyone was looking at her, waiting for an answer. It made sense that she should be the one to hide. It was her idea, after all. But it did feel a bit different to hide and seek, being the _only_ one to go off. 

“I’m not sure if I want it to be me,” she said. “Do you all promise you will come and find me? I won’t be hiding all on my own and you’ll just do something else?”

They were all looking at her strangely. She knew it was an odd question. But sometimes when she was alive, her sister had made her go off and hide and then just not look for her. Often for hours and hours. It seemed like a bit of a game at the time, but ever since Kitty had started playing with Mary and Robin and Thomas, she realised that it wasn’t a very normal thing to be left waiting. They never did that to her. They always played it properly. 

“Kitty, no one is going to leave you,” Alison said. 

“We all love a game, you know that” Pat said kindly, and he stepped forwards to gently touch Kitty’s elbow. Kitty nodded and felt a bit silly to have asked at all, really. Now they’d all think that something was wrong. 

“It don’ts have to be yous,” Mary said. “I cans. Or someone else.”

“No, I’d like it to be me,” Kitty said. “It was a silly question. I know you won’t forget me, hiding away.”

“Tell you what,” Humphrey said suddenly, after a moment when everyone went quiet again. “I’ll hide with you. I’m just a pain to carry around if you’re looking. We can wait together.”

“An excellent idea, Humphrey,” the Captain said, and the others agreed with him. Kitty felt a warmth in her chest as Lady Button handed Humphrey over to her. His beard was a familiar roughness on her hands, and she cradled him close. It would be much nicer to have him with her. The only bad thing about hide and seek was being on your own, after all. 

“Off you go then, you two,” Pat said, squeezing Kitty’s arm. “We’ll give you five minutes to get a good spot, eh?”

Feeling a little bit as though she had made a fuss over nothing, but so grateful that they seemed to understand her anyway, Kitty nodded. It _wasn’t_ normal that her sister had been nasty to her. She had been slowly learning that, over time. But it helped to have new friends who were often grumpy and always quarrelsome, but who were also never cruel to her. She even thought that most of them liked her as much as she liked them. Well, most of the time anyway, and that was good enough. 

She’d never had such friends before. 

“Come on, Humphrey,” she said, grinning. “I know exactly where we are going!”

**Author's Note:**

> Kitty has been my favourite ghost since the start of series one but I haven't written from her point of view before. Since we learned a bit more about her life in series two, I feel like I get what her inner self might look like.


End file.
